February 19, 2008

ASHVILLE, N.C. – Teachers often admit the best way for students to learn is through hands-on experience, but Reynolds High School has taken this adage to the next level.

On January 31, the high school adopted 10 dogs and 12 cats from the All Creatures Great and Small Animal Shelter in Hendersonville.

The shelter had recently been forced to close due to concerns over animal welfare and the animals were left with no place to go.

With so many of the cats and dogs facing euthanization, the students at RHS approached their teachers with the intense desire to help.

The teachers saw it as an opportunity to make their classrooms a dynamic learning experience.

“We contacted the school principal and the students wrote her a letter,” agricultural instructor Ernest Kuster said. “She said we could adopt some of the animals as long as it met curriculum requirements. We could use them for classroom instruction and we could use them to teach students about small animal care.”

With the students completely responsible for taking care of the cats and dogs, the teachers needed only to organize the adoption campaign.

“Buncombe County schools allow us to keep the dogs here and as long as we have them all adopted by the end of the school year we are allowed to keep them here,” student Lauren Donaldson said.

The rescued pets are being housed at the school, with the cats are staying in the barn and the dogs in the agricultural shop. Already equipped with facilities for studying large animals, such as the herd of cattle kept on the school grounds, this rescue couldn’t have gone more smoothly.

This gives the students plenty of time to interact with the pets. Some students find time during their lunch or use study halls to care for the animals.

But their devotion to caring for these rescued animals doesn’t stop and start with the school bell.

“I come in before and after school,” student Warren Michaux. “Most of the time (I) come in the morning to take care of the dogs and walk them.”

Surrounded by support, the students’ rescue project evoked from the community the donations of money, supplies, food and other needed materials.

Fortunately, for students like Samantha Minch, who wants to be a veterinary technician, the experience has been immeasurable.

“This has helped me to learn what type of maintenance and care these animals need and the clean up too,” Minch said.

The students also learned the importance of responsible pet ownership. Now they know first hand how to care for animals before placing them with their new families.

And, they have been quite successful cutting the number of pets needing homes in half in less than a month. The 10 original dogs, now are down to just three. While out of the 12 cats, only eight remain.

Before the cats and dogs arrived on the school property, officials contacted the state veterinarian and animal control to verify they were in good health. Fully wormed and vaccinated, the waylaid animals are ready for their new homes.

In the meantime, these four legged pupils are paying attention to the lessons being learned around them.

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Robin Wallace, Pet Pulse reporter, also contributed to this article.